'Fake beard' robber netted nearly $22,000 during Peninsula robberies

NEWPORT NEWS — The "fake beard" robber pocketed about $22,000 during a crime spree that targeted multiple businesses and restaurants on the Peninsula, according to a police affidavit.

Ronald Carr, 38, of Newport News, was charged last month with 18 robberies in Newport News, York County and Hampton from December 2010 to November 2012. The robberies in Newport News netted $21,711 from 11 businesses, according to a criminal affidavit filed in Newport News General District Court.

The robberies in Newport News represented an average theft of $1,973 per store. The greatest amount stolen from one of the stores was $7,369.

The amount of money stolen from the businesses in York and Hampton was not provided.

Carr was arrested and charged Dec. 27 when police responded to a call of someone possibly stealing items from cars near 16th Street and Garden Drive. During the investigation into the larcenies from the cars, police became suspicious that Carr might have been involved in other crimes and focused their attention on the robberies, according to police.

Carr admitted to committing the Newport News robberies, according to the affidavit.

Carr is charged with 14 counts of abduction, two counts of attempting to commit a felony, 12 counts of robbery and 28 counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony. In Hampton, he has been charged with four counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, two counts of burglary while armed and two counts of robbery. Carr is charged in York County with five counts of abduction, one count of robbery, one count of attempt robbery, two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of grand larceny.

The state police list Carr as a convicted sex offender on its registry. The listing stems from a 1993 rape conviction of a Newport News minor, according to court documents.

Carr is being held in Newport News City Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27 in Newport News General District Court.